Hematological tray



April 1959 D. c. KNOX 2,880,865

HEMATOLOGICAL TRAY Filed Jan. 29, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 David 6. KnoxINVENTOR.

D. c. KNOX HEMA'IOLOGICAL TRAY April 7, 1959 Filed Jan. 29, 1958 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 3

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BY ym 0y FM United States Patent 2,880,865 HEMATOLOGICAL TRAY David c.Knox, Abilene, Tex.

Application January 29, 1958, Serial No. 712,018 1 Claim. (Cl. 206-72This invention relates to laboratory and hospital equipment and moreparticularly to a tray for handling blood specimens. j

Heretofore any kind of utensil that can be secured, has been used forthe handling of blood specimens. My invention makes the standardizationof collection of blood specimens and subsequent handling thereof. Thehematological tray is composed of a main or large tray which not onlycontains a smaller tray but also a rack for supply of constrictiontubes. A loop container is attached to the end of this rack and it holdsa supply of finger lancets. In one corner there is an additional rackwhich holds the chemicals and on this rack there is a clip board to holdorders.

The smaller or inset tray is of importance and is quite unique. It is sodesigned that it is loaded or filled in multiples of two. That, two testtubes, two slides, two pipettes, and two capillary tubes which areplaced together, makes a unit or constitutes the work on one patient.

From right to left of the rack there are spaces for two test tubesplaced one behind the other. Directly in front of these are two slides.To each side and in front of the slides are slots and holds for pipettesand on each side of the test tubes are holders for the capillary tubes.This comprises one unit. The unit is for one patient. There can be asmany of these units as desired in the rack. In the illustration-the rackhas ten units.

A technician can fill the inset tray with blood counts and lift it outand set another one in and leave the filled one in the laboratory. Whilethe other technicians are working this one up, the person can becollecting more blood counts with the new inset tray. The only way anitem in which the work up unit in any tray may be identified is by theposition it holds in the tray. An important feature of thishematological tray is that the contents of the inset tray may be liftedout as a whole rather than piece by piece, thereby avoiding thepossibilities of confusing or mixing the pipettes or other items whichcannot be labeled.

To the best of my knowledge there is no equipment available to hospitalsand laboratories that will permit standardization of the collection ofblood counts as does this tray, the inset tray automaticallystandardizes the procedure.

A further object of this invention is to provide a practically andeasily handled tray that is light weight and manipulable with a minimumof effort and difficulties. In addition to the described features, thetray can support sundry items that are either needed or desirable in thehandling of blood.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

2,880,865 Patented Apr. 7, 1959 Figure 1 is a perspective view of mytray showing a number of parts in dotted line representation;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the inset tray of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 33 of Figure4.

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 44 of Figure1.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional illustration taken on the line 55 ofFigure 1.

In the accompanying drawings there is an appliance 10 which isconstructed in accordance with the invention. This'appliance is made oftwo trays, an outer tray 12 and an inner tray 14.

Outer tray 12 has four sides 15, 16, 17 and 18 together with a bottom20. The top of the outer tray 12 is open so that the inset tray 14 canbe easily lifted out and lowered in place. p

Inset tray is rectangular (Figure 2) as is the outer tray of theappliance 10 but occupies considerably less than the total area of theouter tray 12. The inset tray has four sides 23, 24, 25 and 26 togetherwith a bottom 27. The inset tray 14 has an open top, as does the outertray 12. Inset tray is to be lifted from the outer tray and removed inthe suggested handling of blood specimens, counts, etc.

The outer tray 12 has a rack 30 for a supply of constriction tubes 31.The rack is made of a top wall 34 in which there are a plurality of rowsof apertures 36. These apertures can receive the ends of theconstriction tubes 31 as do the rows of apertures 38 in partition 40located below and parallel to wall 34. The partition 40 and the wall 34have downwardly extending sides 41 and 42 respectively which bearagainst and which may be attached to the bottom 20 of the outer tray 12.A finger lancet 44 is shown in dotted lines in Figure 1 and is fitted ina holder 46 attached to one side 41 that depends from Wall 34.

Chemical rack 50 is in the corner of the outer tray 12 diagonally acrossfrom the corner that accommodates rack 30. The chemical rack is made ofa top wall 52 together with sides 53 and 54 which depend from the topwall and which contact the bottom 20 of the outer tray to support thechemical rack in place. The side 54 has an inwardly directed(horizontal) portion 56 directly beneath the group of holes 58 to formbases on which to support bottles, beakers, etc. that can be fitted intothe holes 53. A clip board 60 is secured to the top wall 50 of thechemical rack and may contain orders or other pertinent information andmaterials.

Inset tray 14 is so arranged that it is loaded or filled in multiples oftwo. As shown in Figure 3 the inset tray is made of a top wall 68 thathas ten pairs of openings 70. Each pair of openings are aligned andcooperate with other parts of the tray 14 to form units. Two test tubesare to be fitted in one pair of openings 70. A horizontal partition 72beneath wall 68 has holes 73 aligned with holes 70 to form a two pointsupport for each test tube.

The front part of wall 68 has ten slots 76 within which to receive apair of slides. Two slides will fit in each slot and they are supportedin upwardly opening slots 78 formed in the upstanding wall 80 beneathslots 76. As shown in Figure 4 wall 68 is made in two pieces, althoughthis is a variable alternative in the construction of the tray 14. Adownturned flange 82 is at the front edge of wall 58 and has 20 openings84 in it. An upstanding wall 88 is attached to the bottom 27 and twosides 24 and 26 of inset tray 14 and has upwardly opening notches 90 inits upper edge. These notches cooperate with the 20 holes 84 toaccommodate twenty capila 3 lay-tribes. The space Between the apertures70 has pen and pencil: holders" 93 and: 94 so that they are readilyaccessible to the technician.

The use and operation of the hematological tray has been dammed. reviouly; However, to repeat, the inset tray 14 is capaliie of-being lifted"out of the outer tray and need individually. Moreover; the arrangementofthe parts of the inset tray is such that the contents are held inunits especially suited for hematological work.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the pfincipies' ofthe invention. Further; since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skiild in the an, it is not desired to limit theinvention to the exact construction and operation shown and deserihm andaccordingly; all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resortedto; falling within the scope of the" invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is' as follows:

A. hematologic-at appliance comprising an outer tray and an: inner;tray, said in ertray wholly removable from said outer tray and includingan u per wall that has apertures to accommodate test tubes, said upperwall having slots within which to accommodate slides, .upright walls,one of said upright walrs Having apertures within which toaccommodatecapillary tubes and pipettes, said upper wall apertures andslots and apertures in said upright walls arranged in pairs toconstitute units for individual patients, one of said uprightwalls'being a depending flange from the wall which has said slots in it,an upstanding wall Beneath said wall which has said slots, and upwardlyopening slots iu said upstanding wall in alignment with the firstmentioned slots by which to partially support the; slides;

References Cited in the fileof'tlii's patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D.164,173 Ives Aug. 7, 1951 1,274,382 Burgoyne Aug. 6, 1918 2,523,590Potter Sept. 26, 1950 2,738,872 De Boton Mar. 20, I956 FOREIGN PATENTS234,799 Switzerland .mrucwcm- Feh. t, 1945

